Radiodays Europe 2018 in Vienna – with a special AER workshop organised in the context of the MediaRoad project

Radiodays Europe is a pan-European radio conference created by European public and private radio broadcasters. The conference is primarily aimed at management, middle-management and programme developers.

This year, Radiodays Europe took place from March 18th to 20th, 2018, in Vienna and 1500+ radio leaders from 60+ countries took part in this pan-European radio conference.

On Sunday, March 18th, an AER workshop was held in the context of MediaRoad. MediaRoad is an EU funded project which aims to support the transformation of the European media sector by building an ecosystem for innovation involving diverse media associations, commercial radios and broadcasters, public service media organisations, media workers’ organisations; academic research institutes and innovation centers, independent producers and SMEs.

The workshop spoke about post-convergence in radio, through hybrid radio applications and complementary approaches. Hybrid radio combines broadcast radio with Internet distribution, thus enabling the addition of visual and interactive elements to the radio programme, such as branding (e.g. logo), information about songs or programmes, tagging of programmes, etc.

This Post-Convergence Radio workshop highlighted two main aspects of radio’s technological developments: on the one hand, hybrid radio as a solution to promote radio’s presence in a convergent world, thanks to broadcast signals complemented by online features; on the other hand, the challenge of fostering, on both a local and a national/European level, an eco-system favourable to the creation of platforms exploiting hybrid radio on today’s and tomorrow’s end-user devices.

Vincent Sneed, Director of Regulatory Affairs at AER, opened the workshop by stressing the importance of Hybrid radio, because it is the infrastructure on which radio can develop. This environment is like a rich and fertile soil; to bear fruits it however needs help – with entities such as Sandbox, the fruits being protected thanks to an appropriate framework – such as Radioplayer. Mr. Sneed finally showed his gratitude towards MediaRoad, the EU funded rendering this workshop possible.

Alexander Erk, Head of Media Services and Application at IRT, presented the work undertaken by the HRadio – also an EU-funded project, aiming at leveraging the full potential of hybrid technology for radio, by enabling the integration of cost-effective broadcast distribution with new online features on not only mobile applications, but also on portals, connected radios and in the car. He said that the radio operators aim at enhancing the attractiveness of radios with linear or nonlinear services towards the end-users, under three pillars: technical integration, service harmonisation and user engagement.

Mike Matton, Senior Researcher and Project Manager at VRT, outlined the work done by VRT on personalised and interactive radio. The Flemish broadcaster is taking part in the MARCONI project, another EU-funded project empowering a fully interactive relationship thanks to artificial intelligence enhanced technology. In that sense, one of the examples of applications that could be developed is the Wall of Moments which enables listeners to have direct interaction with the radio through digital/social media.

To be noticed: both the HRadio and the MARCONI projects are looking for commercial and public radios to test their services! Contact us here for more info: vincent.sneed(@)aereurope.org

Agata Patecka, MediaRoad Project Manager, introduced MediaRoad, which is a two-year project part of Horizon 2020 running from September 2017. MediaRoad aims at bringing together creative content production, technological innovation, and research and development together to create a European media ecosystem for innovation. This project is divided into three hubs: the sandbox hub, the policy hub and the network hub.

To be noticed: MediaRoad is looking for more support to give a stronger voice to the radio and AV sectors! Contact us here for more info: vincent.sneed(@)aereurope.org

Sarah Geeroms, International project coordinator for VRT Sandbox at VRT, showcased the Sandbox project which aims at innovating, collaborating and connecting with others. SMEs / start-ups are able to create innovative collaboration and develop their ideas, test and validate their product in a real broadcasting environment. Sarah Geeroms showed two examples of radio projects within the Sandbox project.

To be noticed: Sandbox is ready to be used by both commercial and public radios and TVs! Contact here for more info: vincent.sneed(@)aereurope.org

Caroline Grazé, Radioplayer Germany, outlined the technological development of the recent years and how radio needs a digital transformation. With 90% of the radios’ revenues coming from FM in Europe and the high cost for radio to become digital, she stressed that hybrid radio is the proper answer. Listeners today are not interested to know whether they are listening to the radio digitally or not: they simply ask for the service to work. In that sense, Radioplayer is the right tool to enable listeners to have access to the radio without having to use a gatekeeper such as TuneIn or a specific car manufacturer. Moreover, Radioplayer, a non-for-profit organisation, allows for the audience to have access to the radio on many different platforms: desktop, mobile apps, voice-activated devices or cars. It is developed at national level and is present in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Norway, the UK, Peru and Canada!